Dad always used to tuck me in, and he'd tell the greatest stories, and we'd read theNew York Times together, and sometimes he'd whistle "I Am the Walrus," because that was his favorite song, even though he couldn't explain what it meant, which frustrated me. One thing that was so great was how he could find a mistake in every single article we looked at. Sometimes they were grammar mistakes, sometimes they were mistakes with geography or facts, and sometimes the article just didn't tell the whole story. I loved having a dad who was smarter than the New York Times, and I loved how my cheek could feel the hairs on his chest through his T-shirt, and how he always smelled like shaving, even at the end of the day. Being with him made my brain quiet. I didn't have to invent a thing.
Excerpt from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
I don't read a lot of fiction novels, but this book was one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever read. It is about 9-11 without being about 9-11. Even this little excerpt makes my eyes well up.
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